"Transgender women are women": Daniel Radcliffe responds to J.K Rowling's controversial comments
"Harry Potter" actor Daniel Radcliffe has sharply criticized controversial comments from author J.K. Rowling. In a piece published Monday for LGBTQ youth nonprofit The Trevor Project, Radcliffe said he felt "compelled to say something at this moment."
"Transgender women are women," Radcliffe wrote. "Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I."
Rowling faced backlash over the weekend for making "anti-trans comments" on Twitter. She took issue with the phrase "people who menstruate" in an article written for Devex.
"'People who menstruate.' I'm sure there used to be a word for those people," Rowling tweeted Saturday evening. "Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?"
Rowling posted an additional series of tweets Saturday night trying to defend and explain her earlier, by-then-viral statement.
Organizations such as GLAAD condemned Rowling's comments:
If you want to direct your rightful anger over JK Rowling's latest anti-trans comments into something positive, support orgs that help Black trans people like @MPJInstitute, @blacktransusa, @TransJusticeFP, @Genderintell and @ukblackpride
— GLAAD (@glaad) June 7, 2020
Citing statistics compiled by The Trevor Project, Radcliffe noted that "78% of transgender and nonbinary youth reported being the subject of discrimination due to their gender identity." He also linked to resources for those interested in becoming better allies of transgender and non-binary youth.
Concluding his piece, Radcliffe apologized to fans for Rowling's remarks, particularly if they negatively impacted the way people associate with the Harry Potter series.
"If these books taught you that love is the strongest force in the universe, capable of overcoming anything; if they taught you that strength is found in diversity, and that dogmatic ideas of pureness lead to the oppression of vulnerable groups; if you believe that a particular character is trans, nonbinary, or gender fluid, or that they are gay or bisexual; if you found anything in these stories that resonated with you and helped you at any time in your life — then that is between you and the book that you read, and it is sacred," Radcliffe wrote.
Rowling has yet to respond to Radcliffe.